The use of technology is a great way to get students engaged and excited about math lessons. As teachers, we all enjoy getting to be in charge of our learning and education, right? So why not give our students the same opportunities? Using Vernier software as a way to integrate technology into our classrooms is an easy and affordable solution to the growing levels disconnect we are seeing with our students and their mathematical educations.
I am currently working with a group of students in a credit recovery class at the local high school and for the most part, those students could not care less about math, or really even graduating high school for that matter. While looking through the various software available from the Vernier website (http://www.vernier.com), I found this light sensor (pictured below) which measures the human eye in spectral response. It plugs right into a TI-84 calculator, and collects data directly to a computer. At only $55 dollars, it would be fairly easy to get a couple for some group work. Having students collect their own sets of data is far more engaging than just giving them a page in a textbook to read and have all the work done for them. Getting the students involved increases levels of excitement and eagerness to get to the next step in the process, but it also gives them a positiveexperience to look back upon.
http://www.vernier.com/products/sensors/ls-bta/
This particular project is geared toward a trigonometric lesson, using a light senor to test periodic phenomena. The students will test both slow and fast periodic frequencies to be able to compare and contrast the graphs the data make. The photo below demonstrates how the sensor is used for this lesson.
http://www.vernier.com/experiments/rwv/21/lights_out_-_periodic_phenomena/
The lesson aligned with this software is available online here: http://www.vernier.com/experiments/rwv/21/lights_out_-_periodic_phenomena/
Or in the Real-World math lab book also available through the Vernier website at: http://www.vernier.com/products/books/rwv/, for $48.